


Truth and Fiction

by Faerytold



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Allusion to Rape, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-10-31 22:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17858261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faerytold/pseuds/Faerytold
Summary: With their usual movie night attendance cut in half, Snow and Regina have words.





	Truth and Fiction

An empty bottle of wine sat on the coffee table, next to half a platter of chocolate chip cookies and a decimated apple pie. The room was dark, the only illumination coming from the television the two women sitting on the couch were transfixed on. The movie was supposed to be a comedy, and they were laughing as much as it had advertised. 

It wasn’t usual for these get togethers to be just the two of them. Snow reached to the middle space between them, searching where she had put her glass of water. Normally, Emma and Zelena were here with them, but Emma was sick this week and was home, being doted on by her husband. Zelena had agreed to watch Gideon while Belle and Gold went out. That had left only Snow and Regina.

Snow snorted. She glanced over at Regina, who was absorbed in the movie. “Can you imagine,” she said, “if we had done something like this in the Enchanted Forest all those years ago?”

The pink hue to her face was all that revealed Regina’s intoxication. “Are you kidding me. One of us would be dead.” She stared at the television for a moment, and Snow watched, her head tilted. Regina wasn’t really seeing the television. Snow knew her well enough to know she was lost in thought, and was proven right moments later. “I’m so happy that I didn’t crush your heart.”

Snow thought she could be imagining things, because she would have bet her crown that Regina had tears in her eyes. “Yeah, I’m happy I’m alive, too.” Then, before she even realized she was thinking the words, she said, “You did crush it, in a way.”

Regina paused. “What are you talking about? You’re right there.” She waved her hand in Snow’s direction. “On my couch, drinking my wine.”

“Nuh-uh, I bought this one.” Snow stuck out her tongue.

Regina snorted. “You were always a petulant child.”

Snow frowned, crossing her arms. “You were a petulant mother.” 

Regina’s chest heaved in a sigh. She turned and faced Snow. Snow blinked back. “Is there something you want to say to me?” The light air from earlier was gone, though Snow wasn’t sure she really understood why. 

She blinked again. “No.” She crossed her arms, copying Regina’s stance. Then she rubbed her hands down her face. Then she met Regina’s eyes. “You really have no idea, do you?”

“About what?” Regina threw her hands to the side, and shook her head. “Snow, you aren’t making any sense.”

Snow stood. “I am.” Her hands balled into fists as she turned away from Regina. “All those years you lived as my mother, married to my father,” she closed her eyes, refusing to acknowledge the burning behind her lids, “they meant something to me.” She took a deep, steadying breath, before turning to face Regina again. “I looked up to you, so much.” She heard the shake in her voice, but Snow wasn’t afraid to let her emotions show. 

It wasn’t often that Snow saw Regina sitting idly while she unleashed a torrent of emotion, so she continued. “You took - You took my father from me, you took my trust, you took my life in just a moment.” She felt the tears on her cheeks and wiped them away. “How could you not know how that crushed me?”

Still, Regina sat in silence. Her back was rigid, her jaw set, and her hands clinched. Snow stepped forward. “Say something.”

That was all it took. Regina snapped. “Say something? You don’t want to hear what I have to say.” The venom in Regina’s voice shocked Snow into stepping back. Regina was clinching the blanket that had been so casually dropped over the two of them just moments before so tightly, Snow thought it might rip. 

Regina took a couple breaths. “You want to talk about taking things?” Regina laughed. “You took,” Regina paused, closing her eyes and twisting her head slightly, the next word coming out through gritted teeth, “everything.” The blanket in Regina’s hands made a small ripping sound that both women ignored. “I trusted you to be my friend, and you betrayed that trust to the one person who had the power to ruin everything, and you did so with a smile.” Regina turned her eyes on Snow, and the younger woman was socked to see they were filled with both burning anger and tears. “You were supposed to be my friend.”

“I was ten.”

“And I was sixteen! Do you think I wanted to marry your brute of a father? Did you really believe I could be happy like that?” Regina clinched her eyes again. “You were such a brat, and I hated you.”

Ice shot through Snow’s stomach. She knew that Regina hated her, past tense. It was how the all ended up here. But the line about her father? Had she not been the person she was now, had she not known Regina like she did now, she would have raged against her. She still wanted to. She was so angry, though, she wanted more to be mad about. “My father was no brute,” she spat.

Regina stood and walked away from Snow, her entire body shaking. Snow felt like, even if they were airing all their bad laundry, she had overstepped a line. She moved forward, a hand reached out, all the anger suddenly drained. 

Regina spoke, her words not full of anger like Snow had expected, but tears and raw emotion. “You have no idea what sort of man your father was.” The words were low. When Snow finally placed a hand on Regina’s shoulder, the older woman flinched. 

“Regina?” Snow slowly turned Regina to face her. “I understand, now that we’re older, that he ignored you, but —”

A hand pushed Snow away. “You don’t understand. You won’t ever understand.” Regina hated how she sounded, like a misunderstood teenager. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly, trying to regain her composure. “He’s dead, so you shouldn’t have to know.”

“Regina, please, I want to understand you. We’re friends now.” Snow swallowed, a hollow feeling forming in the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t grasp whatever it was Regina was feeling so much about, but she wanted to understand. What had started as a bitter fight between old enemies now seemed to be an important talk between them. “Please.”

REgina looked up at Snow, studying her face for a moment. “You love David, don’t you? You’re always so excited at every kiss and touch?”

Snow nodded. “Of course.”

“And what if you told him to back off. Or if he told you to. That you weren’t in the mood?” Regina’s voice was nearly monotone now. 

“We would. Regina, why are we talking about David and myself?”

Regina let out a shaky breath. “Leopold never took no for an answer. Especially not from his new, young bride.” She blinked rapidly. “Being ignored would have been a godsend sometimes.”

Snow felt the color drain from her face. She shook her head. She couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want to believe it. And yet.

And yet. 

Suddenly, Regina was walking to the DVD player. “I think that’s enough movie for one night. It’s time you go home. I’m-”

Snow grabbed Regina by the shoulders, felt her stiffen at the touch, and released her. “Regina.”

“Don’t.” Regina stepped back. “We can go back to shouting, we can go back to watching the movie, but we are ignoring that this conversation ever happened.” Snow couldn’t argue with the look on her face. Regina sniffed. “Now. Let’s finish the movie, shall we?” The smile on her face looked forced. 

So they did. Regina didn’t say anything as Snow sat closer, or opened another bottle of wine, or held her hand. Nor did Snow say anything as Regina laid her head on Snow’s shoulder. 

Regina was asleep by the time the movie ended. Snow covered her with the blanket and cleared the living room of evidence of their movie night. Then she sat on the couch by Regina’s feet. She looked peaceful, Snow thought, curled into a tight ball on the couch. 

There was so much still left unsaid between them, so much bad blood that Snow marveled they had ever become friends at all. One thing was certain, they were friends. 

Regina was a friend Snow never wanted to lose again.

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out different than the idea in my head. For one, Leopold was never going to be mentioned, it was going to be about absolving anger, but I had a strike of memory of a tumblr post, and went down the Leopold lane instead. 
> 
> I would love to hear any thoughts you have on this. Good thoughts, bad thoughts, thoughts that are only one word! Share what you’re thinking with me, please. Thank you for reading.


End file.
